- The Thatcher effect is named after the late British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
- The test shows how the brain tricks the eye into not ‘seeing’ inverted facial features
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A stunning image of Adele has gone viral after stunning social media users with the fascination phenomenon known as the ‘Thatcher effect’.
The Thatcher Effect is named after the late British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, whose image was first used for the trick when it was created in 1980 by University of York psychology professor Peter Thompson.
The mind-boggling visual test shows how the brain tricks the eye into not ‘seeing’ inverted facial features in inverted images, but can spot the mistake when the images are all the way up.
The image of Adele in question is baffling, because even though the star’s face is upside down, it takes a moment to notice that all is not as it seems.
Her eyes and mouth were indeed upright, even though it doesn’t look bad.
But if you turn the image over, it is immediately clear that the eyes and mouth are now upside down.
London-based clinical psychologist Dr. Julie Smith previously stunned TikTok users when she shared a short video on the social media platform that asked users to look at a selection of photos that had been altered for the effect, including former US President Barack Obama and rapper Kanye West.
In the video, Dr. Julie utters: ‘Look at these pictures, you’re about to experience something called the Thatcher effect.’
A stunning image of Adele has gone viral after social media users were baffled by the fascination phenomenon known as the ‘Thatcher effect’
The ‘Thatcher effect’ which highlights a flaw in the way our brains work because we cannot process localized changes in the features of an upside-down face (left), but the same changes are immediately apparent in the upright position (right)
She then showed several images of celebrities, but the photos were turned upside down.
“Did you notice anything strange?” she asked.
Incredibly, even though the photos are upside down, the human brain recognizes the people and their facial expressions.
She told users: ‘Now turn your phone upside down and look again.’
The video quickly went viral, receiving one million views and likes, as well as more than 68,000 comments.
The Thatcher effect, also known as the Thatcher illusion or Eyesmouth-Wrongway, is a phenomenon in which it becomes more difficult to detect local changes in features in an upside-down face, despite identical changes being clearly visible in an upright face.
Previously it was believed that the illusion only worked on the former prime minister’s face.
However, it has since been discovered that the effect can occur on many more faces.
It is named after the former British Prime Minister whose image was first used for the trick in 1980 by University of York psychology professor Peter Thompson
London-based clinical psychologist Dr. Julie Smith previously shared a video with a selection of photos altered for effect, including former US President Barack Obama
In the example above, Kanye West’s face has been changed, with his eyes and mouth remaining the correct way (left). While the oddities on the right stand out
The effect is illustrated by two originally identical photographs, which have been reversed.
The second photo has been altered so that the eyes and mouth have been flipped vertically, although the changes are not immediately apparent until the image is viewed in its normal orientation.
This is thought to be due to specific psychological cognitive modules involved in face perception that are specifically tuned to upright faces.
Faces appear unique despite the fact that they look very similar.
We are hypothesized to develop specific processes for distinguishing between faces that depend as much on configuration (the structural relationship between individual facial features) as on the details of individual facial features, such as the eyes, nose, and mouth.